Monday, May 6, 2013

"SHIPWRECKED:" A TALL TALE OF ADVENTURE

If
you remember the tale of the owl and the pussycat who "set out to sea
in a pea green boat" searching for love and adventure, you might
understand the fascination and attraction that captures a Victorian
gentleman's imagination and sets him on a watery course of his own.
Maybe you've heard of him, one Louis de Rougement, an amicable fellow
who might be the slightest bit prone to exaggeration and hyperbole.

His
rainbow hued story, which some might term as tall tale. will be spun
purely for the sake of entertainment by the innovative and inventive New
Haven Theater Company, just three years young, at the Whitney Arts
Center, 591 Whitney Avenue, New Haven on Sunday, May 12 at 4 p.m. and 7
p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
"Shipwrecked! An Entertainment. The Amazing Adventures of Louis de
Rougemont (as told by himself)" is a product of the New Haven Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies.

If you've ever been
confined to a sick bed for any length of time, you will empathize with a
youthful Louis who declares his independence at sixteen, throwing off
his fretful fevered brow and wrinkled bed covers for excitement with a
capital E. He trades in his overly protective mother for a man of
daring and danger, a sea captain named Jenkins, as he dashes off to
encounter LIFE.

Will he be defeated by an octopus, find despair
on a deserted island, drown in a giant whirlpool or rather take a
fanciful ride on a sea turtle, marry an Australian aborigine and meet
the Queen of England? To discover the truths to the tale, if there are
any, follow Louis and his faithful dog Bruno literally to the ends of
the earth. Louis will be played by Christian Shaboo, while Eric Greene
will be his trusty pooch and the Queen of England, Margaret Mann will
play his overly protective mother and an Australian prospector, Hilary
Brown will appear as his bride Yamba and a newspaper boy while Hallie
Martenson will portray the ship captain and an aborigine Bobo. To Peter
Chenot, the inventive director, " 'Shipwrecked" is a wonderful play
because it lets the audience imagine the story along with the actors on
stage. We try to create a jumping off point for the story telling."

Hang
on to the coattails of Louis de Rougement as he sets off from France on
what will be a thirty year intrigue in the late 1880's,one that takes
him to Australia and a "dangerous and marvelous world." His childhood
sickroom books of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Arabian Nights" are sure to
pale by comparison.